Heaven Is You

|20|

Oscar Atkins

When we were done with our little journey to the bakery we left with the promise of returning, due to the good service and the unmatched hospitality, not to mention the obvious. It really did feel like a cozy little home, or at least has twinges of it.

"Come on, we got to head to the park to feed the pigeons" Felix urges us while Sierra squeals in sheer excitement. We did in fact take a loaf of bread for the road, after Sierra proposed the idea.

We file into the car, and in less than ten minutes, we're there. The sun burns highly in the sky, the sunlight gently caressing the leaves and branches of the trees, creating an everlasting glow and radiating warmth into the air.

We start walking slowly in the park, I take my time in looking into things surrounding me; people, things, buildings and places.

We find a bench near the green of the grass and decide to take rest from our mini stroll and so we head there. Except, there's five of us and the bench isn't made for this number of people.

Felix files down, pulling Sierra to sit in his lap sideways, Will takes a seat next to them and I sit down as well, pulling Talia into me.

She gasps as she comes in contact with me, then smiles as I place both my hands on her waist, steadying her, with my chin on her shoulder.

She smells divine, of fresh fruit and a little like flour from our earlier adventure and I think this is my favorite smell thus far.

We listen to the chirping of the birds nestled into the trees, few people coming and going, the sound of rustling water coming from a nearby lake provides calmness and serenity.

I dose off starting into nature, only to be brought back by the petite soft hands landing on mine. "Hmm" I murmur in her ear.

"I want to throw bread to the pigeons" She announces and I nod my head "Ok.." I conclude, not getting where this was going.

"I, umm, I need you to release me in order to do that" She chuckles and my cheeks paint red, I quickly pull my hands away, granting her space and she slips a few feet away, with the loaf of bread in hand as she shreds tiny pieces and feeds the birds.

"So, Oscar, when the hell are you going to man up and finally ask her out?" Ask Sierra pointedly.

I turn my head to face her "I don't think that the time is right. She just broke up with her boyfriend an—" I start but she cuts me off.

"Her shitty ex you mean, exactly. This means this is your chance, unless you want to hear about how Mason's asking her out next week; you know he's been inquiring about it. So, this is your heads up" She warns me and my jaw tightens at the thought of someone else being her boyfriend.

"I know for a fact that you like her, and she appears to like you back, so just go for it, man" Felix encourages "I mean look at this one, we wouldn't be here now if I didn't get my shit together and asked her out" He explains and Sierra kisses his cheek and mutters 'true'.

"Thanks" I nod in appreciation, my mind drifting to how I'm going to make my move. I'll need to make it fast before she agrees to go out with anybody else and then I'll lose my chance indefinitely.

"At this rate, by the end of the month I'll be the only single guy left on the team" Will huffs and we burst out laughing. Every group has that one friend. Well, ours happens to be Will.

"Don't worry Will, I'm sure you'll find someone" I assure him and he nods his head frantically in approval.

We spend the next few hours talking, laughing and just strolling around the park, conversing endlessly while enjoying each other's company.

It's not long before it's four in the afternoon and we had to go back, since we needed to head to a volley practice while the girls had homework to do.

We swing by the apartment, quickly changing our clothes and gathering our bags, leaving shortly after.

Practice today was extra harsh, I wanted to crawl into bed and just sleep. Coach Evans went all out on us today, said a repercussion of our last game.

We march tiredly to the locker rooms, a bunch of stinky college kids who sweat profusely.

As we make it into the changing space, Killian, a sophomore teases Tim "Yo, I heard you hooked up with Juliana at last week's party" He questions with a suggestive tone.

"Yeah, she was nice, a little blah, but ok" Tim saunters and I wanted to drill my ears with nails and close them shut to evade the degrading way he addresses women.

Will fake gags at the conversation exchanged and urges them to shut it.
"How about you be a decent human being for once and shut it?" He asks raging while Tim puffs his chest.

"What's your problem Willy?" He asks jokingly, bitterness and malice underlining his tone.

"I don't have a problem, but if you keep talking like that about girls we're going to fucking have one" Will spits at him, and I can see a few guys nodding in agreement.

It's actually nice to see some guys breaking the stereotype about the way athletes view women.

"My friend Killian and I were just harmlessly chitchatting" He defends and Killian gulps but nods nonetheless.

A few guys stare them down, undoubtedly intimidating the shit out of them. "I don't fucking care. If it's either racist, sexist, discriminatory, or objectifying we'd rather you just keep it to yourself" I threaten him.

Tim takes a step forward, eliminating the space between us "Why're you mad Oscar? Is it because it sucks to have my sloppy seconds?" He says and my eyes can only see red at this point. I wanted to beat the shit out of him. No, I needed to beat the shit out of him.

I charge at him in full force, it actually takes Will, Felix and Dean holding me back from reorganizing his face "I dare you to say that again!" I threaten.

"Calm down, man" Warns Dean while holding me back, increasing the space between us.

"Did you hear the shit he's saying?!" I exclaim blinded by anger and wrapped up in raging wrath.

"He's only saying things to get you riled up" Felix deescalates the situation with his practical logical point of view and I shake my head in anger and take a few deep breaths in.

•••

A/n:

Drama. Drama.